From June 8 to June 22, you can join the National Marrow Donor registry for FREE ! If you haven’t done this, it’s painless, and for the next few weeks, FREE. Did I mention FREE? And painless!
You could save a life! (And a lot of time, they don’t even take marrow, they take stem cells by apheresis–so fairly painless, even if you donate!)
And, hey, FREE! (It normally costs for the sample kit and processing.)
(Also, if you’re already in the registry, you should make sure your contact info is up to date!)
[Mod permission to post this sought and granted. Thank you very much!]
They don’t take marrow? I was unaware. Thank you for fighting my ignorance!
I had a femoral implant when I was a kid, and was told that the displaced marrow in my left femur would be replaced with fat. So I had always figured I was not a candidate as a marrow donor, since I’m already in short supply.
I’m also surprised by your statement that it’s painless. In the movies it’s portrayed as excruciating.
Fight some big-time ignorance for me, as I have no clue what is involved.
Tell me about the donation process. Is that also painless? How long would I be away from work? Do I need someone to shuffle me to and from the hospital/office whatever?
Well, there’s a ton of information on the site I linked, but from my understanding, there’s two ways of donating. One is the excrutiating bone-piercing marrow-sucking needle. There would likely be time away from work, but the arrangements for everything else, I believe, is made on the recipient’s end. I’ve never donated, so I’m not sure of all the logistics.
The other is apheresis. Which is basically the same thing that is done when you donate blood platelets or red blood cells–they take blood out one arm and put it back in the other after taking out what they need. The difference is that it takes a lot longer, and I think they give you something to stimulate stem cell production?
I believe someone on this board has been through the process–if I get a chance to search, I will.
As far as going on the registry, you take scrapings from inside your cheeks, with a swab, and send it in.
stretch, thank you for signing up. Don’t forget to follow up when you get the kit, and to keep your contact info up to date if you should move.
Darn. I have asthma that is usually well-controlled, but I did have to go on oral steroids earlier this year. It was for less than a week, but their guidelines rule out anyone who has had to go on systemic steroids within the last five years. This reminds me, there’s a blood drive tomorrow that I intend to go to! I last went in the winter, and they didn’t even get any blood off of me.
That seems like an extremely weird disqualification. What’s the logic there.
Incidentally, it seems completely insane to me that one would ever have to pay anything to sign up as a donor. Shouldn’t the testing be free for people who what to donate and the costs of the testing kits taken from the insurance/recipients?
“The cost to add you to the registry has been covered, but funding is limited. To join for free, you must complete the online registration step before June 22 AND before funding limits are met. After that, you may be asked to pay the tax-deductible $52 tissue-typing cost.”
I was interested but I frankly don’t want to be in the boat of “we’re paying for people, but we may still shake you down for cash if we run out and we can’t tell you up front either way”. Seriously?
You get to the final page, when you’d ordinarily pay for the testing (which I agree, is weird), and the total comes up as $0. If it didn’t, you wouldn’t need to continue.
Nobody knows who the recipients are or will be at the time you’re donating. Insurance companies won’t pay for a million tests in the hopes of getting matches for their handful of donees.
-bup, on the donor list since 1993 and up-to-date (never been called to donate, though)
I think he means if they do it by pheresis it’s relatively painless (big needle stick in the arm). I am assuming the huge needle in the hip is still pretty darn painful.
I signed up last year when a similar promotion was going on for Mother’s Day. I keep my info up to date and it’s always a good reminder to do so.
All the literature they send you emphasizes that if you do get asked to donate, these days they use nerve blocks so the extraction isn’t painful. Is that true, or total BS?
I mean, it makes sense that they’d have no problem numbing up your hip before sucking out the marrow, but I’d hate to find out the hard way that it doesn’t work too well. Anyone have any experience donating or undergoing this procedure?
This reminds me, there’s a blood drive tomorrow that I intend to go to! I last went in the winter, and they didn’t even get any blood off of me.